Fall Feasts and Such

With fall weather comes fall cooking. Here is the Mayor with a batch of empanadas. 

Seimi showing off one of his fabulous K-Nex creations.

To paraphrase John McClane, "Ho ho ho - now I have a chainsaw!"

We had some gnarly smoke, and here are Seimi and Eejee doing a quick photoshoot of their "sm - smoke" flashcard, before they retreated back inside.

Friday marked the return of rain, the clearing of the skies, and Howard emerging from the Duh Chest.

Friday was also the start of the Feast of Trumpets!

Here's our combination Start of Term Feast/Feast of Trumpets

Howard reviewing his script prior to sorting the hobbitlings.

Eejee was sorted into first grade.

Seimi was sorted in fourth grade.

Ela was sorted into seventh grade.

Boookie was sorted as a freshman.

Family Portrait 2020

Here is our (apparently) biannual candid family portrait.

Here is 2018's portrait for comparison.

Here is 2016's portrait for comparison.

End of Summer

With the end of summer upon us, here are some catch-up photos from the summer, starting with creations. This was a summer with lots and lots of K-Nex creations by Seimi and Eejee. There are new K-Nex weapons made just about every day - here is Seimi with a belt-fed machine gun.

British man-o-war

Check out this model of the solar system!

This is a Jouster on horseback from one of Seimi's favorite games, "Totally Accurate Battle Simulator"

Eejee flying a biplane with Seimi manning the rear machine gun - can you see it?

Seimi's hand-drawn map of the WWII North African campaign.

Wood blocks from the Mayor's childhood, used to create fantastic forts.

Assassin's Creed LARPing.

More games

Eejee's LEGO Infinity Gauntlet

This summer, Boookie has been gradually working on a scabbard, very much enjoying the process.

Boookie has grown into the Mayor's helper on bigger projects. Here he is helping with rebuilding a section of fence for Auntie Jen.

The Mayor called all the hobbitlings out from school to check out his full-scale compass.

And here's the finished back gate.

We got to go down to the Cabbage for a few days. Here are some random pictures from our time there.

Below is a picture of Apu holding a napping Boookie.

Just a few short years later, Boookie appears to fill up Apu's chair a bit futher.

We've been staying close to home this summer and doing little exploring trips close-by.

Boookie taking the helm of the sailboat for the first time.

And here is Boookie's 15th birthday, complete with a singing, rotating, fireworks candle. This was the little candle that could - we found it singing it's tiny digital song intermittently for weeks later, up until the point the trash company emptied the singing trash can and hauled it away.

We enjoyed Ela's beautiful wildflowers this summer.

The search for a comet took us exploring at night on multiple occasions. This was the closest look we got, but it was fun to pile into the van at night.

And what photo record of the summer of 2020 would be complete without some mask photos.

Socially-distanced "field church" (not to be confused with "convenient church").